Jan. 11, 2015

Claire Martin Prototype column examines proliferation of so-called parklets, small parking areas that are transformed by businesses into outdoor spaces; observes that while parklets are often open to the public, they are usually established in order to attract customers and brighten the streetscape outside of businesses; notes that at least 72 have appeared worldwide, in addition to the 51 in San Francisco. MORE

Sep. 10, 2014

New SoHo luxury apartment development at 42 Crosby Street is offering 10 underground parking spots that are selling for $1 million each; spots cost more per square foot than apartments being sold upstairs. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

New York City Council is considering bill that would allow drivers to return to parking spaces once street sweepers pass on alternate-side-parking days; some fear change would confer an unfair advantage upon those who wait in their cars until cleaning period is over; others argue that such dedication should be rewarded. MORE

Feb. 24, 2014

New York City will restore alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations, which have been suspended since Feb 1 amid spate of snowstorms and freezing temperatures. MORE

Feb. 15, 2014

Winter tradition of shoveling out cars and staking out a parking spot with any household object is drawing resistance in Boston and other cities; practice of space savers appears alive in South Boston, but neighborhoods in the historic South End have moved to ban it. MORE

Jan. 5, 2014

Real Estate Q&A on payment for parking spaces at co-op, inspection regulations and liability for a previous owner's unlicensed renovations. MORE

Nov. 28, 2013

Smartphone apps are one way that malls and shopping districts are trying to make parking easier to lure customers away from their computers and back into brick-and-mortar stores; analysts rate of number of mall garages outfitted with parking sensors and number of parking apps is doubling or tripling annually. MORE

Jul. 15, 2013

No Standing signs are posted at a few locations in Manhattan, exempting only authorized vehicles. But which vehicles are those? MORE

Jun. 21, 2013

Amsterdam Journal; Amsterdam, long considered one of most bicycle-friendly cities in world, is struggling with issue of where to park hundreds of thousands of bicycles that commuters ride every day; situation has been intensified by 40 percent growth in bike travel over two decades and has led some to suggest city may have too many bikes, idea once unthinkable. MORE

Jun. 15, 2013

Auction for adjacent parking spaces in Boston ends with spaces being sold for $560,000, shattering previous record for prices of parking space; parking space is at a premium in cities like Boston, and prices have been climbing for years. MORE

Jun. 13, 2013

Transportation data for Barclays Center in Brooklyn shows that few New Yorkers bike to sporting events, leaving 400-space bicycle lot largely empty; scheme to discourage drivers by reducing parking spaces for cars to less than 600 seems to have tamed congestion in areas of Brooklyn near arena; at typical Brooklyn Nets weekday game, quarter of fans drive, more than half take subway and 6.9 percent walk to arena. MORE

May. 2, 2013

New York City Council Speaker Christine C Quinn plans to introduce bill intended to change functioning of city's Muni-Meter parking machines with aim of reducing unnecessary charges to drivers; bill is seen as populist move in fraught mayoral election season. MORE

Apr. 18, 2013

New York City's Transportation Department proposes quintupling fine for 'street defacement' to $250, from $50, aiming to stop private citizens from illegally painting curb or street with fake markings in effort to secure parking. MORE

Mar. 17, 2013

App City column notes several mobile applications that offer ways to better manage hassles of parking a car in New York City. MORE

Mar. 3, 2013

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about whether non-fiction authors should share profits with subjects of their books and entering condominium lottery for handicapped parking spot without owning car. MORE

Jan. 8, 2013

New York City’s Transportation Department is replacing more than 6,000 parking signs with easier-to-follow alternatives. MORE

Dec. 23, 2012

Randall Stross Digital Domain column observes that in cities, smart-parking technology is designed to help solve traffic problems and make it easier to find available spaces; points out systems use sensors to determine whether a particular spot on the street or in a parking garage is occupied or vacant, but notes that systems are still in the early stages. MORE

Nov. 26, 2012

New York City Council panel will consider new zoning regulations that will reduce how many parking spaces must be built with new residential developments in Downtown Brooklyn, which has many public transportation options; new zoning will allow developers who already have excess parking to reclaim unneeded space for other uses. MORE

Oct. 12, 2012

New York City Councilman Peter F Vallone Jr details a bill to make motorcycle parking free in the city; motorcycles are subject to Muni-Meter rates, but riders say enforcement is inconsistent and that meter receipts are often stolen or damaged by weather, leading to unjustified parking tickets. MORE

Sep. 4, 2012

Elizabeth A Harris The Appraisal column; guests of residents of Neponsit and Bell Harbor on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens often have a difficult time finding parking in the summer; towns have a May-to-September ban on street parking, intended to keep beachgoers off residential streets. MORE

Sep. 3, 2012

Corner Cars car-sharing program in Hoboken, NJ, run by Hertz, may be helping ease the city's parking situation, according to survey data; as of July 2012, nearly 25 percent of the program's roughly 3,000 members report that they have given up their cars or decided against buying one because of the car share; since 2009, the number of people with residential parking permits has declined by about 1,000, to 16,000 total permits. MORE

Aug. 6, 2012

Verlyn Klinkenborg The City Life column marvels at the way in which New Yorkers move their parked cars to accommodate the street sweepers. MORE

Jul. 29, 2012

Real Estate Q& A on New York City laws and guidelines governing flooding in a co-op apartment, parking spaces in a rent-stabilized building and safety concerns of co-op neighbors. MORE

Jun. 13, 2012

Santa Monica, Calif, is using new technology that resets the time on each parking meter to zero the moment a car pulls out of a space; city says it is trying to turn over spaces more quickly, but critics see an effort to squeeze more money out of the meters. MORE

May. 31, 2012

Some enterprising New Yorkers welcome bill signed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, allowing drivers to transfer time remaining on Muni-Meter receipts to any other parking space in the city; some residents predict it is only a matter of time before time left on parking receipts hits the open market, with receipts resold to the next prospective parker below the meter rate. MORE

May. 23, 2012

Traffic engineering expert Samuel I Schwartz unveils traffic management plan for new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, an area already jam-packed with cars; says reducing the number of parking spaces will discourage driving entirely, compelling many visitors to travel by subway and the Long Island Rail Road. MORE

Mar. 25, 2012

News analysis; drivers are increasingly sitting in their parked cars to text message or otherwise use their phones, trend that safety advocates are supportive of, but which infuriates other drivers looking for parking spots. MORE

Mar. 16, 2012

San Francisco is trying to shorten the hunt for parking with an ambitious experiment that aims to make sure that there is always at least one empty spot available on every block that has meters; the program, which uses new technology and the law of supply and demand, raises the price of parking on the city’s most crowded blocks and lowers it on its emptiest blocks. MORE

Jan. 22, 2012

App city column on Can I Park Here, iPhone app designed to read unclear parking signs in New York City and let user know whether parking spot is legal. MORE

Jan. 16, 2012

Johannesburg Journal; unique enterprises are springing up in South Africa as unemployment remains high; for young men with little prospect of a formal job, car guarding has proven to be a powerful draw, especially given nation's high crime rate. MORE

Nov. 3, 2011

New York City Council Committee on State and Federal Legislation votes to send the issue of whether to give residents parking permits to the full Council for a decision on whether to send the matter to Albany for consideration; proposal, which requires state legislation, could relieve congestion in neighborhoods in all five boroughs. MORE

The Finnish “day fine” system, which factors in income when calculating penalties for infractions, is causing a debate in a nation with an egalitarian streak. One millionaire, for example, was fined 54,024 euros (about $58,000) for a traffic...